Florida Football Insiders

Consensus building Bucs take TE round one? Will it be David Njoku?

There are a lot of do-overs in the seemingly endless guessing game that NFL mock drafters like to play, and in their latest attempt to get things right, ESPN top draft analysts Mel Kiper and Todd McShay have at least reached a consensus on a few picks.

Both have Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett going first overall to the Browns and both have Stanford defensive end Solomon Thomas going second overall to the 49ers. Interestingly, they also agree on what it is they believe the Buccaneers will do at No. 19 overall.

Kiper and McShay both have the Bucs spending that pick on Miami tight end David Njoku, and while that may leave some Bucs fans shaking their heads, there seems to be a bit of groundswell of belief that adding an impact tight end just may be the Bucs best bet in the first round.

Look, the Bucs went into this offseason looking first and foremost to add weapons for quarterback Jameis Winston. They did that when they signed wide receiver DeSean Jackson, but they can’t and won’t stop there and remember, the Bucs don’t really control this.

At No. 19 overall they’re going to have to let the draft come to them a little bit and while Kiper and McShay both have the Bucs passing on running back Dalvin Cook and wide receiver John Ross, Bucs fans may want to get used to that idea.

As Bucs general manager Jason Licht told Florida Football Insiders way back at the scouting combine, the Bucs “are not desperate for a running back,’’ and with Jackson on board and literally showing no signs of slowing down, they are no longer desperate for speed at wide receiver either.

That doesn’t mean the Bucs will ignore those positions during the draft but it does mean they can wait and possibly address them later and with the talent pool at both spots considered to be very deep this year, there’s a chance that’s exactly what the Bucs will do.